Judge to decide if indicted Louisiana sheriff can carry gun

LAFAYETTE - A federal judge will decide if a south Louisiana sheriff accused of making anti-Semitic threats can carry a gun while awaiting trial on charges he directed officers to assault prisoners.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal already is prohibited from possessing firearms following his indictment, but his attorney says recent killings of police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas demonstrate he needs a gun to protect himself.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna scheduled a hearing Friday for Ackal's bid to reclaim his gun and for prosecutors' request to bar him from possessing any weapons.

Prosecutors said an "unsolicited informant" recently provided them with tapes of a conversation in which Ackal claims he threatened to shoot a prosecutor between his "Jewish eyes" after the prosecutor vowed to send him to prison.